/lit/ - Literature

This is in no particular order, and with no reasons given, although I'll give reasons if asked for certain books.

1. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
2. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
3. Freedom - Jonathan Franzen
4. Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Wallace beats Pynchon in nearly every way.

>more complex, and thus more engaging language
>better ideas
>non-linear storytelling
>humour works better
>more relevant to contemporary life
>not obssessed with the freaking 60s

The only thing Pynchon has is better named characters, and only slightly.

Running Dog

This looks pretty good, Hitler combined with filmmaking and politics.

Mao II

A novel about a reclusive artist. I really like the premise, but hate how it's (seemingly) all written in the present tense.

Falling Man

Could be an interesting 9/11 novel. I dunno.


What does /lit/ think? Or should I read something else by DeLillo? I've already read White Noise, Underworld, Cosmopolis and The Angel Esmerelda: Nine Stories.

Wallace beats Pynchon in nearly every way.

>more complex, and thus more engaging language
>better ideas
>non-linear storytelling
>humour works better
>more relevant to contemporary life
>not obssessed with the freaking 60s

The only thing Pynchon has is better named characters, and only slightly.

Falling Man - Don DeLillo
Point Omega - Don DeLillo
On Beauty - Zadie Smith
Inherent Vice - Thomas Pynchon

This are all books I'm thinking about buying tomorrow, that my Waterstones actually stocks.

I also have an opporunity to see the 3 attractive chicks that work there, so give me a super-intelligent book to ask them if they're read. </sarcasm>

Does this make me a bad person?

Also, is this better or worse than reading about 10 books by Orson Scott Card? I mean, he's a bigot and a homophobe, but he's not a criminal, right?

>mfw I read books by Bad People and enjoy them

>>2440537

I dunno. Just some very pretty girl.

>yfw you admit to enjoying a few pulpy books
>yfw you have no face

The Firm - John Grisham
The Prodigal Daughter - Jeffrey Archer

About 30 of the 'proper' red spine books
Something like 20 white spine books
About 5 different coloured spine books

I love Vintage. Especially the way the book name is in white, and the author's name is in pale blue, which isn't noticable at first.

This isn't the 'official' list of postmodern traits or trends, just my own (probably dumb) interpretation of them. Tell me what you think. I'm not saying a postmodern novel must have all of these, just that they all crop up at some point or another in postmodern list, and many novels have several of them.

>complex language, i.e. vocabulary, sentence structure and phrasing
>non-chronological storytelling
>obscure references
>weird character names
>playful / black humour
>normal and weird sex
>either no plot, or no central plot
>saying serious things in a funny, strange or absurd way

11/22/63 - too expensive
The Third Reich - see above
The Recognitions - out of print where I live
The Return - too expensive
The Insufferable - too expensive

It's not fair. The frustration of not being able to read books you want to read is actually quite good.